I’m a real estate investor in Memphis, TN, and a lover of information, technology, Web 2.0, my family (the 3 cutest red heads on the planet!) leading worship at my church and most of all my best friend and Lord. While my personal experiences in this business range from landlording to property management to note buying to rehabbing to wholesaling –   – it’s the role of wholesaler (quick-turn flipping) that I enjoy the most, and where the vast majority of my own experience comes from. I’m a firm believer that your niche as a real estate entrepreneur should always be a good fit for… 1) your market,  2) your circumstances and  3) your personality
J. P. Moses

– and wholesaling just fits me better than anything else. That, and being a blogging geek.

 

 

I got started investing in real estate in 2000 (after reading Robert Kiyosaki’s Rich Dad, Poor Dad).

 

 

I quickly starting looking for a mentor, and ended up approaching the first “real life” real estate investor I could find, asking him to take me under his wing. There’s more to that story, but I’ll save it for another time.

 

 

I also learned all I could about REI on the internet, visited all the forums I could find and eventually (after about 6 months) spent $600 on my first home study course.

 

 

It was the worst course ever.

 

 

I mean this thing was just AWEFUL… in terms of quality, content…and so many other ways. It was like buying garbage, honestly.

 

 

But I still contend to this day that it was the best $600 I’ve ever spent.

Why? Because I actually took action.

Now I just had to go out and make some money at this real estate thing, or risk losing face to my wife, to whom I had sincerely promised the $600 was a “worthwhile investment”. :-/

Remember, every mistake is a lesson…a necessary stepping stone on the path to ultimate success.

So as I stumbled my way around this real estate investing biz, I kept hearing that I needed to “find and join my local REIA group”. Great advice. Problem is, Memphis didn’t have one at the time.

 

 

(By the way, if you need to find a REIA group close to you, start by looking at National REIA and if it’s not listed there, search Google for “real estate investing yourcityname” or “REIA yourcityname”)

So not finding one in Memphis, what did I do? I started one.

At the time I realized that I may not know all that much about investing in real estate yet, but I knew how to wrangle a bunch of people together and lead them in some sort of intelligent discussion.

So I placed an ad in the local paper (in the “Investment Property For Sale” section on Sunday) that said something like,

Real Estate Investors Club Starting. Interested? Call 901-XXX-XXXX

Within about 3 Sundays, I had a list of 30 or so folks who were interested. I called them all back up and we had our first meeting in the back room of a Shoney’s restaurant.

 

 

Honestly we didn’t really know what we were doing, except that we felt that we could all be ultimately more successful through a healthy sense of “coopetition” rather than keeping each other at arms length.

It’s the whole abundance vs. scarcity mentality. You should really check it out if you don’t get it already.

 

 

Anyway, we formed a board of directors and started having monthly, topical meetings.

I had no idea what I was getting myself into (in a good way). As I grew my own real estate investing business, I also had this real estate investing club I was growing. And before I knew it, I found myself surrounded by people with a common mindset, similar goals and interests and an authentic synergy I hadn’t imagined possible.

 

 

I’m extremely proud to say that within a few short years we developed and grew this group of people from 16 (our first meeting attendance) to over a hundred the first year, andwhen I retired from active leadership in 2006, we had over 600 members. Wow!

It’s extremely fulfilling to have been able to be a part of creating something from scratch that has impacted our local real estate landscape, and effected many, many lives for the better. I had the idea, but I give credit to all the others (board, key staff and members) who caught the vision and invested so much of themselves into helping make MIG happen.

 

 

A personal testimony to the power of the REIA group…

 

 

…is that nearly every deal I’ve ever done has in one way or another involved someone I met through (or because of) the Memphis Investors Group. Starting and running that group for 6 years was one of the best decisions I’ve made in my REI biz.

 

 

f you’re not plugged into a local REIA group, then do it. If you can’t find one, then start it.

 

 

From flipping homes to Flipping Homes (dot com)…

 

 

Through my leadership role in MIG I have been able to develop some personal relationships with some of the leaders in our industry. I’m talking about the gurus/experts — those with a presence in the industry, and typically some kind of product or seminar available to the marketplace.

 

 

I can tell you, of those I’ve met, some of them are the real deal – authentic educators and leaders I’d refer my own mother to if she were interested in this business.

 

 

Others are quite frankly shysters, out there to do whatever they can to string you along with hopes and dreams, while extracting as much money from your pockets as possible along the way. Whether it’s because their methods are outdated, they’ve never really done any deals, or they’re just rotten inside — who knows.

But in constantly bringing in new educators to our group, I got to know a lot of the good ones and a lot of the bad ones — personally. I also served on the leadership committee with National REIA for 3 years, which exposed me to them even more.

 

 

In 2006 I had the good fortune of meeting Steve Cook ofFlippingHomes.com fame. He’s one of the good guys. In fact, he’s one of the best.

 

 

So one thing led to another, we did a joint venture educational thingy for MIG, which led to me working with him at Flipping Homes as the “FH 2.0 guy”, community liason and general geek-boy. A role I truly enjoyed.

Steve and I had a great run together. I became ADDICTED to the flipping homes community, and was able to bring a lot of new energy and color into the classic flipping homes life.

 

 

Time passed, and I’ve since moved on from active management at flipping homes. But Steve and I are still good friends, and I’m still an active member and will be forever proud and grateful for what I was able to experience with him there.

 

Being completely transparent…

 

I want to be very clear about how I see my role here. I AM NOT PUTTING MYSELF UP AS A GURU, TO BE FOLLOWED. In fact, I’m more of a “Nada Guru”.

 

 

I don’t say “guru” like its’ a bad word. I have many personal gurus and they are to me exactly what the word truly implies: experts, worthy of emulating.

I just don’t want to come off to you as if I’m preaching from Mt. Sinai. I’m just an average Joe, like you, who digs real estate investing, wants to do it better, and likes to “get my geek on” a little from time to time.

 

I have a good bit of experience as a wholesaler (and a smidgen in other areas) so I’ll offer insights and value where appropriate. But I’m also going to connect you with my colleagues in the industry who are strong in areas where I may not be.

 

 

And one thing I have a pretty darn good knack for is extracting the juicy tidbits for you to take away and apply in your own business.

 

Wow, this turned into a stinkin’ novel…

 

 

Didn’t mean for that to happen. Oh well. Now you know more about REITips, it’s mission and purpose, and more about me and how I fit into it all.

 

 

I’d like to encourage you again to subscribe to the REI Tips newsletter. I’ll give you some cool, free stuff in return. And your privacy is guaranteed.

 

 

Take care, and happy investing.